Energy saving concerns has imposed optimization of the thermal insulation of the metallic profiles, most commonly aluminium profiles, used in the construction of the sash frames adapted to receive glass or shutter panels of doors and windows and of the frames within which such sash frames are installed. This requirement is equivalently applicable to the frame and sash profile members of various types of doors and windows, wherein the sash profile member may be hinged onto the frame profile member or it may slide or it may lift and slide, etc.
With a scope of optimizing thermal insulation, frame and sash profiles have been developed, which comprise a so-called “thermal gap”, i.e. they are divided in two portions being connected with intermediate polyamide connecting members thereby forming an empty chamber delimited in between the opposing walls of the two profile portions and a pair of opposing polyamide connecting members. Whilst the air filling the hereinabove mentioned empty chamber already advantageously differentiates the temperature of the two profile portions since the air-filled gap interrupts the continuity of heat conductivity of the metallic profile, it is still far from accomplishing an ideal condition of thermal insulation wherein, whilst the exterior profile portion acquires the temperature of the exterior environment, the interior profile portion maintains the temperature of the interior of the building and thermal losses are eliminated.
With a scope of further enhancing thermal insulation characteristics of such thermally interrupted profile members, the prior art has proposed means and methods of filling such abovementioned air-filled gap with insulating material having a thermal conductivity inferior to that of the air and thereby being capable of rendering a profile member with enhanced thermal insulation characteristics.
An insulation enhancing method used in the prior art comprises the introduction of bars of insulating material, polystyrene or rigid polyurethane, within the abovementioned chamber in between the two profile portions. However, this necessitates maintaining a stock of a plurality of such bars of insulating material with an appropriate section to fit such thermal continuity interrupting chambers of the plurality of profile systems having varying dimensions and a standard length that necessitates cutting to fit within profiles of varying lengths being specified by specific application requirements. In addition to the storage costs of such a plurality of varying sections of insulating bars, cutting appropriate lengths of these bars and subsequently fitting them within the empty chambers results to escalated installation costs as well, yet with minimal and uncertain effectiveness in the eventual improvement in thermal conductivity being obtained due to the unattainable precise abutment of these bars onto the side walls of the profile portions and onto the polyamide connecting members. It has been verified that thermal conductivity of a thermally insulated profile comprising two portions with a thermal gap in between them being filled with an appropriately sectioned insulating bar of polystyrene or polyurethane is substantially inferior to that of the insulating bar.
Another insulation enhancing method being employed in the prior art is through filling the chamber in between the interconnected profile portions with polyurethane foam being supplied within the chamber through appropriately spaced holes being drilled onto the lateral walls of the profile portions. However, again such dynamically performed insulating operation still fails to provide optimum insulating properties to the final profile product due to uneven, uncontrolled flow rate of the foam being supplied in a direction transversely to the chamber and dispersed longitudinally along the chamber that is delimited by the side walls of the profile portions and the polyamide profiles interconnecting the same. The resulting solid body of the polyurethane foam being supplied lacks uniformity of shape and is expected to fail to provide a precise abutment onto the walls of the chamber, whilst such uneven mass thereof might lead to development of stresses that tend to deform and weaken the strength of the final insulated profile product. Most importantly, the density of the insulating material that is a substantial parameter of the eventual insulating characteristics of the final insulated profile product varies in the linear direction and cannot be controlled with a scope of providing optimum insulating characteristics.
It is an object of the present invention to advantageously overcome the deficiencies in accomplishing an optimized thermal insulation of the profiles used in the construction of the frames adapted to receive glass or shutter panels of doors and windows as such deficiencies are encountered in the prior art and provide a device capable of delivering the insulating material linearly along the empty chamber being formed in between the two interconnected profile portions of a frame or sash profile and of achieving an absolute abutment of the insulating material onto the walls of the two profile portions and of the polyamide connecting members delimiting the chamber and constituting the walls of the so called thermal gap in between the two profile portions, thereby ensuring a controlled uniform section and uniform density of the insulating material throughout the length of industrially produced profile portions appropriately assembled with the intermediate polyamide connecting members.
It is a further object of the invention to produce profile assemblies incorporating the proposed insulating material with the latter having a density that may be selectively chosen to have a specific value within a range of 30-90 Kg/m3 and appropriately chosen to meet requirements for varying applications, i.e. preferably a density within a range of 40-60 Kg/m3 is chosen for profiles wherein an optimum coefficient of thermal conductivity is required thereby ensuring optimum insulating characteristics, whereas a density of a higher value may render profiles of enhanced rigidity and strength.
Another object of the invention is to provide filling of the chambers of the profile portions of a thermally insulated profile assembly adjacent to the centrally located chamber of the so-called “thermal gap” with the same insulating material, thereby enhancing thermal insulation and further obtaining an enhanced soundproof quality of the assembled profile.
A further object of the invention is to propose a composition of the insulating material comprising two distinct components which are being supplied through independent pipes together with an air supply pipe, all three pipes incorporated within an insulating material supply member and jointly driven longitudinally along the chamber of the profile assembly wherein the insulating material is being supplied and thoroughly mixed to form a polyurethane foam that thoroughly fills the aforementioned chamber.
A further object of the invention is to provide alternative configurations of the aforementioned insulating material supply member with a scope of appropriately implementing the insulating process of the invention in profile assemblies having thermal gap chambers of varying configurations and dimensions, whereby in particular said insulating material supply member incorporating the air supply pipe and the pipes of the two distinct components alternatively takes a substantially elliptical form with the three pipes being serially arranged or a triangular form with the three pipes being located at the apexes of the triangularly configured insulating material supply member.
A further object of the invention is to propose the polyurethane supply device equipped with a central processing unit adapted to receive data of ambient conditions of temperature and humidity, as well as of the dimensions of the chamber and the length of the profile that is subject to receive the insulating material and appropriately adjust the quantity of the constituent parts of the insulating material with a scope of obtaining a final insulating product of the desired density.
A further object of the invention is to provide the device that delivers the aforementioned insulating material linearly along the empty “thermal gap” chamber equipped with a mixing unit wherein the constituent parts of the aforementioned composition supplied through said insulating material supply member are mixed to form the polyurethane foam insulating material incorporating a non-return valve adapted to avert reverse flow of the constituent materials, wherein said insulating material supply member and the mixing unit are adapted to perform a three-dimensional displacement with a scope of orienting a polyurethane delivery nozzle located downstream the mixing unit centrally within the chamber subject to being filled with the polyurethane insulating material.
Another object of the invention is to provide the aforementioned polyurethane delivery nozzle with a rotating capacity with a scope of aligning said nozzle in the longitudinal direction of the profile assembly subject to being filled with the polyurethane insulating material.